


can't we be seventeen?

by Sisduke



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-11-08 18:13:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17986160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sisduke/pseuds/Sisduke
Summary: “I’ll see you in calc,” Aubrey said lowly, waving the paper in her hands up and down, eyes darting down to it and then back up to Stacie’s own grey-green ones. “And chem. And gov.”Stacie finally snapped out of her daze and took the schedule, smile brightening when Aubrey’s words registered. She tapped the table one last time before saying, “I’m counting the seconds.”





	can't we be seventeen?

**Author's Note:**

> I've always loved soulmate aus, but it's hard to do something that hasn't been done before, so I figured I'd do it a little differently. The soulmates portion of this work isn't the main focal point, but instead a smaller plot point in their relationship. As you'll read Stacie saying: they aren't the be-all-end-all of life. This got long and soft and mildly angsty but it's my baby and I love it in the end. Big thanks to sab/handsinacapitches for letting me yell incoherently for days on end, and big thanks to the people putting on staubrey week! I really hope you enjoy this. It has my blood, sweat, and lots of tears in it.

****

August

“It’s the first day and you’re already trying to get fucking dress coded.”

“Hi Stacie, how’ve you been since I saw you last week? Oh, I’ve been amazing, Becs. Went to an end-of-summer bonfire and ended the night with some good di-” The rest of Stacie’s sentence was muffled behind Beca’s hand.

She narrowed her eyes at Beca, waiting a few seconds before licking her palm and moaning obscenely, a devious smirk growing on her lips when the shorter girl yanked her hand away like Stacie had burned her. “Ew! Dude, gross! What the fuck!”

“We’ve known each other since we were five. Shouldn’t you know better than to try and shut me up by covering my mouth with your hand?” Stacie said pointedly, crossing her arms in such a way that it increased the prominence of her already _incredibly prominent cleavage._

(Beca really hadn’t been being paranoid about dress code, and even though it was a hot summer in California, she didn’t know if that justified just how short Stacie’s shorts were and how revealing her top was.)

She just grunted in response, not able to refute her statement given how true it was.

Stacie grinned at her, looping their arms together as she started all but dragging Beca towards the school gates. “C’mon, Becs. Where’s your school spirit?”

“Oh darn, I left it in my other pants,” Beca deadpanned, though for her efforts she did get a laugh out of Stacie. “Let me just go back home and get-”

“Oh hell to the no you don’t, Umbreon.” She tugged Beca back into her side when she tried to turn back towards her car, leading her past the point of no return and onto campus proper. “We’ve got places to see! People to do!”

Beca groaned loudly but shuffled alongside her, eyes skimming over the varied groups and cliques that were hanging around and swapping schedules, either cheering or lamenting their classes for the year. “We’re at school, how many people are there to even do?”

“Do you want a list?”

“No thanks.”

“I have a list if you want it, Umbreon.”

“If I’m Umbreon what does that make you?” Beca wondered aloud as they curved up the path and started seeing the rows and rows of tables set out for schedule pickup, all headed by two students. The lines were relatively short given how early it still was. “Espeon?”

Stacie scoffed, “I’m Sylveon, obviously.”

“Right,” Beca replied sardonically. “How could I not have thought of that. Stupid.”

Stacie opened her mouth to make an equally as snarky remark, but the words died in her throat when she finally saw who was sitting at the table marked with a large poster of a C.

Beca turned to raise an eyebrow at her, and then she followed her gaze to the table. “Is Posen on that list of yours?”

“She’s been at the top of it since she moved here freshman year,” Stacie said automatically, raking her eyes over what she could see of the blonde from her distance, knowing she’d get an even better look when she approached to pick up her schedule.

“Well, I’m going to go get my schedule and hope no freshmen stole our usual spot. Don’t make too big a fool of yourself, Sylveon.” With that, Beca strode off deeper onto the campus, disappearing around a building to get to the other side of the gym where Stacie figured the M table was.

She glared at Beca’s back, grumbling about how she had more game in her middle finger than Beca had in her entire body.

It only took a few moments to compose herself once she realized she probably looked like an idiot just standing, alone, in the middle of campus. She ran a hand through her hair to make sure it was laying correctly, adjusted her top, and then took a deep breath for ultimate zen purposes before walking up to her table.

Aubrey Posen was exactly the kind of girl that Stacie thought of when she heard someone referencing the “girl-next-door” trope. She was obviously beautiful, her blonde hair falling in gentle waves and her hazel eyes bright with life, and she was just as capable, both athletically and academically, as she was stunning.

She was Barden’s star athlete, acting as captain of the field hockey team in the fall, the best forward on the soccer team in the winter, and Barden’s best sprinter for track in the spring.

To only add to her, already admittedly intimidating, image, she was also one of the few people in school who could go up against Stacie in an academic setting and be on almost equal standing, but not quite. If not for Stacie, she’d probably be an absolute shoe-in for valedictorian, but the brunette was not about to go down without a fight. At least, not go down in that particular setting.

(Wink.)

“-and Luke almost got into a fistfight with Uni about who finished the kegstand faster, which was actually neither of them because Chloe wiped the floor with them, but you just had to have been there to really experience it.”

Sitting right beside her was Barden’s first string quarterback, Chicago Walp, one of the few people that Stacie knew to be in Aubrey’s real inner circle of friends. If Aubrey was the typical “girl-next-door,” then Chicago was the typical “all-American boy.”

_In another universe maybe they’d’ve been soulmates,_ Stacie mused as she stopped in front of the table, eyebrow raised in amusement and vague curiosity, watching as Aubrey rolled her eyes at his story. _But Chicago definitely broke his collarbone sophomore year, and Aubrey definitely didn’t._

Chicago finally seemed to notice Stacie waiting in front of them, and he sent her a disarming smile as he leaned forward to leaf through his stack of crisp paper. “ID card?”

Stacie made a mock offended sound, her grin betraying her sincerity. “We’ve known each other since elementary school!”

“She’s in my stack, I’ve got it,” Aubrey assured, giggling a little at Stacie’s faux offense. “Your name hasn’t changed since the last time we spoke, has it?”

“I am still very much Stacie Conrad,” she said, leaning forward a little so she could drum her perfectly manicured nails against the fold out table. “You?”

Aubrey chuckled as she sorted through the papers for a second time, obviously having lost her place. “Still Aubrey Posen.”

Stacie hummed to herself, watching the way Aubrey’s fingers flipped through the stack with interest. The blonde finally found what she was looking for, making a triumphant “aha!” noise before pulling a single sheet out of the pile and glancing over it as a final check. She nodded to herself and held out the schedule with a smile. “Here you are, _Anastasia._ ”

She raised a brow at that, something fluttering in her chest at hearing her full name coming from Aubrey. When she didn’t make a move to grab the schedule, Chicago cleared his throat and studiously began shuffling through his own stack of papers.

“I’ll see you in calc,” Aubrey said lowly, waving the paper in her hands up and down, eyes darting down to it and then back up to Stacie’s own grey-green ones. “And chem. And gov.”

Stacie finally snapped out of her daze and took the schedule, smile brightening when Aubrey’s words registered. She tapped the table one last time before saying, “I’m counting the seconds.” With a small wave, Stacie strode off in the direction of her usual hangout spot, and if her smile was just a bit wider than it normally would be on the first day of school, who was anyone to judge?

 

****

**September**

Stacie’s phone vibrated on her bedspread next to her, the first and second vibrations going unnoticed, unable to tear her attention away from the AP Chem homework that was beginning to frustrate the living hell out of her to the point of almost getting up to tell her dad that the homework he had assigned was actually impossible.

The third vibration finally snapped her out of her hyperfocus, her hand immediately reaching out to flip her phone screen up so she could see who was trying to get ahold of her so badly. She let out a confused hum when she saw a number she didn’t recognize, but almost instantly her slouched posture straightened when she saw the first message.

_Hey Stacie, this is Aubrey. I was wondering if you knew how to do the calc homework?_

Before responding, Stacie input Aubrey’s number into her contacts, smiling when she saw the letters AP appear where a photo would go once she had one of her.

_This is Stacie Conrad, right?_

_Hello?_

Stacie snorted when she read the increasingly more nervous texts, tapping out a quick and teasing: _yeah this is stacie. how’d you get my number?_

She moved to set it down, but Aubrey’s reply was quick. Stacie was impressed, mostly because her own inner circle seemed to have problems with returning her texts, especially when it came to homework (Beca and Emily were the worst because Beca would always just leave her on read and Emily just _wouldn’t look at her phone._ )

[Aubrey, 7:32PM]: _Thank god. I was starting to worry that Chloe’d given me one of the numbers of her many admirers._

[Stacie, 7:33PM]: _of course it was chloe_

[Aubrey, 7:33PM]: _Who else would it be?_

[Stacie, 7:34PM]: _idk. uni and luke both could have given you my number_

[Aubrey, 7:34PM]: _I’ve never seen you talk to either of them, and I’m almost certain that your classes don’t coincide at all. Of all people, why Uni and Luke?_

[Stacie, 7:34PM]: _ill give you a minute to think about me. and then think about my reputation. and then think about uni and luke._

[Aubrey, 7:35PM]: _Right, sorry._

[Stacie, 7:35PM]: _It’s fine. You said you needed help with the calc?_

[Aubrey, 7:37PM]: _I had trouble with this in AB and apparently I still don’t really get it because I’m still having trouble with it and I don’t really understand the homework._

[Stacie, 7:38PM]: _i dont think ill be able to explain this over text. i can call or ft?_

[Aubrey, 7:39PM]: _How early do you get to school on late start?_

Stacie blinked at what initially seemed like a strange turn, but she made a noise of understanding and started typing again.

[Stacie, 7:40PM]: _i drive myself so whenever i want to be really_

[Aubrey, 7:40PM]: _Can you meet me in the library in the morning and explain it to me then? I feel like I’d remember it better if we could go over it in person._

Warmth bloomed in Stacie’s chest and her smile turned soft, her fingers going to type out _It’s a date,_ but she froze with her thumb over the blue send button. Her and Aubrey still didn’t know one another very well, and while they’d both been lowkey flirty with one another since they’d met, Stacie was still hesitant given that she hadn’t been given reason to believe that Aubrey was her soulmate.

_You don’t have to be soulmates to be in love, but if you aren’t, society will be against you every step of the way._ Her mother’s voice echoed loudly in her brain, and she knew it to be true from her knowledge of her parents relationship.

The nature of her family was rare, and it helped Stacie grow up seeing the world as more grey than black and white when it came to soulmates. It wasn’t just two sides of people who were your soulmate and people who weren’t. Her father's soulmate was purely platonic, and her mother had never met hers, but people were so hung up on the old-fashioned idea that soulmates were supposed to be romantic that they viewed relationships like her parents as extremely unorthodox and doomed from the start.

It really pissed Stacie off, to say the least, and she had become rather jaded about the _fantastical phenomenon_ that was soulmate theory, especially when she saw the shit that her parents went through on a daily basis because of their non-soulmate status.

[Aubrey, 7:44PM]: _Stacie?_

[Stacie, 7:44PM]: _shit sorry spaced out. any time in particular you want to meet?_

[Aubrey, 7:44PM]: _7:30?_

Stacie bit her lip.

[Stacie, 7:45PM]: _it’s a date_

The three little dots of hell popped up in their thread before disappearing abruptly, and Stacie thought that she had just ruined everything, but then-

[Aubrey, 7:46PM]: I’m counting the seconds.

 

****

**October**

“Nice costume.”

Stacie looked up from her worksheet, already hooking a finger in the wire of her earbud with an apologetic smile. “What?”

Aubrey gestured vaguely at her, smiling. “Nice costume. Daphne?”

Almost like she’d forgotten how she was dressed, Stacie blinked down at her incredibly purple outfit and then drew her eyes back up to Aubrey. “Oh, yeah, I am.”

“Where’s the rest of your gang, Daphne?” Aubrey teased, her words quiet to the point that Stacie almost didn’t hear them over the low murmurs of their other classmates also working on the calculus worksheet. “Did you split up to search for clues?”

“Oh, ha ha, very funny,” Stacie replied, shifting to face Aubrey more fully while fixing the green scarf around her neck. “You couldn’t have missed Beca in music theory this morning. She was wearing a _color,_ Aubrey. That doesn’t happen.”

Aubrey took on a thoughtful expression and then realization dawned on her quite visibly. “Ah, yeah. I mostly noticed Emily in that ridiculous Scooby Doo onesie sitting next to her.”

“So there’s them. As for the others, Ash is Velma and Jesse is Fred,” Stacie explained, pulling her other earbud out and pausing the playlist she had going on her phone so she could focus her attention on Aubrey.

“What about Cynthia Rose?” Aubrey questioned, obviously noticing the absence of Stacie’s other oft talked about friend.

Stacie’s face twisted in mock disgust when she said, “She’s doing a _couples costume_ with her _soulmate._ ”

Aubrey let out a surprised bark of laughter, flushing a little when it seemed to draw the attention of a few students around them before they returned to their worksheets, not wanting to have it for homework. She turned back to Stacie and raised an eyebrow at her. “Don’t believe in soulmates?”

“The lines are a lot more blurred for me than they are for other people when it comes to soulmates,” Stacie responded vaguely, pursing her lips and glancing away, feeling her face heat the longer she kept her eyes locked on Aubrey’s intense hazel ones. “I just think the whole thing is a bit… overblown. It isn’t some be-all-end-all thing, like, once you find your soulmate everything is fine.”

Aubrey was silent for a few moments too long to the point that Stacie was beginning to feel uncomfortably warm with nerves, but she eventually said, “I see your point. My parents are soulmates, but things are…” She trailed off, clearing her throat and tilting her head from side to side with a rueful smile, as though that was answer enough.

“My parents aren’t even soulmates,” Stacie whispered between them, smiling tightly. Even with Aubrey just having told her about her parents seemingly strained relationship, she was so used to people expressing total surprise and sometimes derision towards her as a child born not of soulmates, and she was wary of telling Aubrey this despite their newfound friendship born of mutual struggling. “Mom always says that soulmates aren’t always romantic, and I’m inclined to believe her. I mean, my dad’s soulmate is his best friend, and he ended up getting married to his not-soulmate, my mom, and having me, so there has to be something… blurry and grey in the big picture.”

“Have you met your soulmate?” Aubrey asked carefully, looking down at her hands, folded in her lap, and it was in that moment when Stacie noticed just how impressive it was that Aubrey hadn’t been dress coded for her costume.

Stacie shook her head. “I don’t think so. Sometimes I feel really sore, so I think they’re an athlete, but there’ve only been a few huge injuries. Nothing recently, so I wouldn’t really know.”

“My soulmate must be super clumsy,” Aubrey said, laughing quietly. “I’m always covered in scrapes and bruises that I definitely didn’t get from field hockey. I’m really grateful that whatever they were doing that was sending me all of that through the trauma link hasn’t happened too recently. Didn’t want to explain any of that to anyone, especially given how often my knees are bruised.”

Stacie rolled her lips between her teeth to keep from laughing in Aubrey’s face, but the way she sounded positively _scandalized_ was hilarious, really. She almost detected a hint of her South Carolina accent slipping into her words, too, knowing that she’d moved to California from there back in freshman year.

“Don’t laugh at me! It’s not my fault that my soulmate can’t seem to get off of their knees,” Aubrey hissed, her lips set in a fierce pout that only made Stacie giggle behind her hand. “I just hope that whatever they’re doing down there is going to be worth my while once I meet them.”

Finally, finally, Stacie couldn’t hold back. She hid her face with her forehead against the desk as her shoulders shook with laughter, trying to keep it down so that the teacher didn’t ask her why she was giggling like a madwoman. A warm hand rubbed her shoulder through the thin fabric of her purple shirt, and she turned her head so it was pillowed in her arms and she could look at Aubrey. “I’m sorry.”

“You’re really not,” Aubrey said, her bottom lip honest-to-god jutting out.

_What I would give to kiss that lip,_ her brain torturously whispered. _What I would give to be the one on my knees-_

“Ladies, if you don’t want this worksheet to be your homework, I suggest you actually work on it instead of socializing,” their teacher said, startling the both of them into sitting up straighter, even when they saw the quirk to his lips. “I’m willing to let it go this once, but I can’t be expressing any favoritism.”

“But everyone knows that we’re your favorites,” Stacie replied cheekily.

“You have worksheets to be doing,” he said pointedly, gesturing at the half-finished worksheets before walking back up to his desk and sitting down, not looking away from them until it seemed like they’d turned back to their work.

Stacie nudged Aubrey with her elbow, meeting her eye in a side glance. The blonde raised a curious brow at her, not daring to speak after being chastised, however joking it was.

“I really like your costume, Wonder Woman.”

 

****

**November… kinda**

“This is new.”

A small smile spread across Stacie’s lips as she finally took the red solo cup from the bespectacled senior who’d been playing bartender and took a careful sip, turning around to face the low and curious voice that had spoken to her. “Being Daphne is all well and good when I’ve got the gang, but none of them are party people.”

Aubrey hummed and Stacie tried not to be too visibly smug when she saw the way that the blonde was giving her a very thorough onceover, swirling her own red cup as she did so. “You make a very good Jessica Rabbit, I must say.”

“I thought so too,” Stacie teased, switching her cup from hand to hand so she could tug and smooth out her gloves. “Been holding on to her since I got the idea last Halloween.”

“Have you got yourself a Roger Rabbit?” Aubrey joked back at her, fully expecting her to say no, but Stacie just cleared her throat and grinned widely. “No. You don’t.”

“Remember how Batman went upstairs like ten minutes ago?” Stacie bit her lip to suppress her laughter, looking over Aubrey’s shoulder with glittering eyes at something.

Aubrey turned on her heel and had to clamp her hand over her mouth to keep from bursting out into uncontrollable giggles, her shoulders jumping with the effort. She heard Stacie starting to laugh behind her, and then warmth passed over her side as the brunette sauntered up to Luke, plucking at the strap of his red overalls. “I’m not the only one who planned a wardrobe change.”

“When did you two plan this?” Aubrey breathed out in disbelief, drinking in the sight of Luke in candy red overalls with big, cartoonish yellow buttons, a blue bowtie, mustard colored gloves, and floppy white bunny ears. To make the whole ensemble even better, he-- or someone else, Aubrey didn’t really know-- had drawn on a red nose and black whiskers and freckles.

“My last Halloween party,” Luke answered, flicking Stacie in the arm when she made to snap his overall strap again. “Quit it. I can go back to being Batman, you know that right?”

“You promised you’d do this with me,” Stacie reminded.

Aubrey looked at the two in surprise. She knew that they had been… previously acquainted-- or at least Stacie had implied as much the first time they’d texted-- but she hadn’t expected this easy camaraderie from either of them.

“There was a reason that I came in here besides meeting up with my Jessica,” Luke said, lightly shoving Stacie and grunting when she poked him right in the stomach as retaliation. He narrowed his eyes at her, but Aubrey cleared her throat and raised an eyebrow at him. “Right. Chloe’s fucking hammered and I think our Jessica’s losing the will to stop her from doing her usual Drunk Chloe Things.”

“Shit,” Aubrey cursed, shaking her head and putting her cup down, knowing that she probably wouldn’t be returning to the kitchen if Chloe was being typical Drunk Chloe. “I have to take Chloe home.”

“Haven’t you been drinking?” Stacie asked, concern tingeing her voice.

“Aubs never drinks at my parties because she’s always got important places to be,” Luke said, rolling his eyes as though he thought the very idea that somewhere that wasn’t his party was more important was ridiculous. “She makes me get her sparkling cider.”

“I don’t make you do anything,” Aubrey retorted, snapping his overall strap. “I have a drunk best friend to take care of.” She turned to Stacie, softening slightly when she saw the way the brunette was regarding her. “I’ll see you in calc.” And then she disappeared back into the party.

Luke turned his head to give Stacie a curious side-eye, eyebrow raising when he saw the wistful expression on her face. “Conrad?”

“Hm?”

He searched her face and seemed to find something he was looking for, but he just shook his head with a grin. “Nothing.”

 

****

**December**

“I need you to condense the entire curriculum from this semester into a two minute explanation, go.”

Stacie picked her head up from the desk and blinked blearily at Aubrey, taking in the outfit that was a far cry from her usual fashion and then squinting when she noticed just how exhausted the blonde looked. “You look like hell.”

“You say the sweetest things,” Aubrey replied sarcastically, raising an eyebrow at her. “You look like you’re about to pass out.”

“I made the mistake of taking a nap after my physio final and it was not long enough,” Stacie explained, rubbing her eyes and groaning quietly. “And I’ve had a headache since Friday. I want to gouge my fucking eyes out, but if I do that all of the calculus might leave and I need that.”

“I barely slept all weekend, so I think that’s to blame for my headache,” Aubrey said, rubbing the heel of her palm in circles against her temple. “I’m subsisting on a diet of Red Bull, black coffee, and bagels.”

They both stared at one another for a few tired, tired moments before Stacie hid her face in her arms again to yawn loudly. “Is it too late to turn feral and start a new life in the woods?”

“Are you worried about this final, because I don’t think you should be.”

Stacie shifted so she could look at Aubrey, blinking slowly. “Why’s that?”

“We’ve been meeting every Tuesday morning to go over calculus since September, and I understand most of it now, so you have to understand more given that you tutored me to this point.” She shrugged and pulled a case out of the pocket of her robe, popping it open and putting on a pair of glasses.

“I’ve never seen you wear glasses,” Stacie said softly.

“I don’t usually wear them, but I didn’t want to deal with contacts today.” Aubrey smiled at her and pulled her study guide out of her bag, putting it between them. “Can you walk me through number 7 again?”

“Of course I can.” Stacie blinked a few times before sitting up and leaning between their desks so that they could both see the problem clearly. “Okay, so you know that this would be a u-sub because of…”

 

****

**January**

“Lets go lesbians, lets go.”

“Jesse, I swear to god-”

“Mom and Dad are fighting again,” Emily muttered to Ashley as they all crossed the parking lot to get onto campus for the first day of second semester. The shorter brunette snickered behind her hand, but they both reverted to whistling innocently when Beca turned her glare on them.

Stacie weaved her way between her two arguing friends and slung her arms across their shoulders either side of her, ruffling Jesse’s hair and pressing a playful kiss to Beca’s temple. “It’s too early in the fucking morning for you two to be bickering like the old married couple that you are. I love you, but knock it off.”

“Wine Aunt Stacie strikes again,” CR commented.

“I hate this fucking family.” Ashley shook her head and dodged getting smacked by both CR and Emily, the others letting out a chorus of affronted gasps.

Emily wrapped her arms around Ashley’s middle, squeezing her. “You take that back! You love us!”

“Let me go, Em!” Ashley struggled weakly against her, laughing loudly.

“Let her go, babe,” Beca called, turning around and waving at the three of them. “We have shit to do. Schedules to get, blondes to flirt with.”

“You better not be flirting with any blondes,” Emily warned jokingly, releasing Ashley and walking up to her girlfriend with a raised eyebrow.

Beca’s eyes widened and she opened her mouth to correct herself, but Emily shut her up with a quick kiss and a smile. “I know you’re joking. And we all know that the only ones with blondes to flirt with are Stace and Ash.”

“Speaking of, did y’all talk to y’alls blondes at all over the break?” Jesse teased.

“Would you stop saying y’all, you aren’t Southern.” Beca reached out to poke him in the cheek and he batted her hand away.

“I will say y’all as much as I want because I’m going to rub my bisexual hands all over Southern culture,” Jesse replied.

“Guys, Stacie’s gone,” CR said blandly, pointing in the direction of the table marked with a large poster of a C, so similar to the one from the beginning of the year.

Beca and Jesse’s “what?”s were stolen by the wind as Stacie approached the table with a spring to her step, a grin on her face when she saw Aubrey and Chicago sitting at the table, talking just as they had been back in August at the beginning of first semester.

“Stacie Conrad, as I live and breathe,” Aubrey drawled, already beginning to shuffle through the stack of schedules in front of her.

“How was your break, Stacie?” Chicago asked, grinning widely.

“Glad you remembered my name this time,” she teased with a light laugh and a hair flip. “It was pretty great. My teachers were actually generous for once and decided not to assign any homework over it, so I was able to just take three weeks to relax and hang out with friends and my family.” Stacie and Chicago both glanced over when Aubrey swore under her breath, sucking her finger into her mouth. “Aubrey?”

Aubrey sent them both a reassuring smile, pulling her finger out of her mouth. “Paper cut.”

“Is it bleeding?” Chicago asked, leaning into Aubrey’s space and taking her hand in his, looking closer at the barely visible cut.

“Just stings like a bitch,” Aubrey muttered, sucking on it again before shaking her head and using her other hand to rummage in the stack.

Stacie watched Aubrey carefully, drumming her fingers against her denim clad thigh. She morphed her face into a smile when Aubrey finally pulled out a crisp sheet of paper, holding it out to Stacie. “Looks like neither of our classes have changed, Stacie.”

“Well, then I’ll see you in calc,” Stacie said, taking the schedule, her smile turning into a grin. “And chem, and gov.”

Aubrey’s lips quirked with amusement and she tilted her head to the side, hazel eyes gleaming. “I’m counting the seconds.”

When Stacie sat down in physio some half an hour later, she looked down at her fingers, flexing them and turning them over.

The small cut on her finger-- _the same finger that Aubrey had gotten the cut on_ \-- went unnoticed by Stacie, because at that point, her teacher had begun to lecture.

 

****

**February**

“Toss up.”

Stacie picked up her pencil, poised and prepared to start noting down important numbers said by the moderator during the question. As the math and science player for Barden’s academic league, she always had to be on the ball. There wasn’t room for someone to fuck up during the match if they wanted any chance at keeping up the winning streak Stacie had been upholding her whole high school career.

“Planck’s constant is about 4.14 times 10 to the –15 times this unit times seconds. Particle masses are often reported as powers of 10 times this unit over c squared; for instance, the proton has a mass of about 938 million times this unit over c squared. The binding energy of ground‐state hydrogen is 13.6 of this unit. A joule is roughly 10 to the 19 of—for 10 points—what unit of energy symbolized eV?”

_Science._

She pressed the buzzer, biting her lower lip so she didn’t say anything until she was acknowledged. They’d all been burned by that rule before

“Barden High, Stacie.”

“Electrovolt,” she answered in as level a voice as she could manage.

“Correct,” the moderator said, pausing for the clapping from the assembled relatives and friends there to support the two teams.

Stacie grinned widely and stuck her hand under the table, nodding to herself when Beca met her with a high five.

“Toss up.”

Everyone tensed with anticipation, the air thick with it as they waited for the moderator to start the next question.

“In one novella by this author, a hermit who steals a gold basin, sets fire to a house, and drowns a teenager is eventually revealed to be an angel. This author of Zadig also wrote a novella in which red sheep transport treasure out of El Dorado, where the title character travels after leaving the castle of Thunder‐ten‐Tronckh. For 10 points—what French author created the eternally optimistic Dr. Pangloss in Candide?” the moderator asked, looking between the two teams.

Beca’s hand shot out to hit the buzzer, her eyes alight with smugness.

“Barden High, Beca.”

“Voltaire,” she answered, drawing her hand back into her lap.

“Correct!”

Stacie grinned as everyone prepared for the next question, once more ready with her pencil, focusing intently on the moderator.

“Toss up. Using the Addition Theorems for Trigonometric Functions, what is the result of the sine of 20 degrees times the cosine of 50 degrees plus cosine of 20 degrees times the sine of 50 degrees?”

Once the question had registered, she was immediately scribbling down the math. She hadn’t been in trig for probably a year and a half, and she was mostly used to calculus at this point, but it’s not like they didn’t do anything at academic league practice. Trig was one of the things she practiced the most during those, mostly because it was the one thing she didn’t regularly study during school.

(The unit circle was practically burned into her retinas.)

In the middle of her calculations, she felt a tingling sensation in her forearms, and she frowned. Within seconds, the tingling turned into intense stinging, and the frown turned into a deeper wince.

And then she felt a new tingling start in her cheek that very quickly turned into a burning and painful sting.

“Oh my god, Stacie, you’re bleeding!”

She blinked and dropped her pencil, turning her arms and inhaling sharply when she saw long scratches marring her skin, bleeding sluggishly onto her scratch paper and the tablecloth.

There was a loud screech from the speakers as the moderator set his microphone down, already striding over to the table once he saw the rest of her team crowding around her. “What’s going on?”

“Your face,” Beca whispered, reaching out to brush her knuckles over what was becoming a very distinct red handprint on her cheek, though she jerked away when Stacie hissed in pain. “Sorry!”

“It’s fine, it just hurts,” Stacie breathed. “I just need to get cleaned up and we can keep going.”

“We can sub someone in for you while you clean up and take a break before the bonus questions,” their coach suggested, patting her on the shoulder as she nodded and stood up. “Okay. Benji, you’re in, come on.”

Later that night, after a long conversation with her mother about what had happened during the match-- _“the one match that I don’t go to and something interesting happens!”_ \-- Stacie dropped onto her bed with a loud sigh, looking down at the scratches on her forearms.

The pictures were easy enough to take, showing off her scratches and then the slap mark on her cheek. The captions were easy, too: _My soulmate had an… interesting day, to say the least_ and _I know they certainly made academic league more interesting tonight for me._

She went through her night routine as usual, but she still couldn’t stop looking at the marks on her arms and lightly touching the edge of the mark on her cheek. It was beginning to bruise, and Stacie wondered what her soulmate had done to be slapped so fucking hard.

Her phone was lit up with a message when she sat back down on her bed.

_Aubrey Posen :) is typing…_

_Aubrey Posen :) sent a message._

“Wonder what she wants,” Stacie mumbled to herself, pressing her thumb against the home button and tapping around to get to Snapchat, opening the tab with Aubrey’s name.

[Aubrey Posen :)]: _Saw your story. Where’s it from?_

[Stacie Conrad]: _soulmate. Why?_

The little bitmoji that Stacie had all but forced Aubrey to make one day in calculus popped up in the corner with the thought bubble and the dots, but within seconds of her sending the message, it disappeared.

[Stacie Conrad]: _aubrey?_

The bitmoji didn’t come back.

 

****

**March**

“I need to talk to you.”

“Stacie, we have to get to class-”

“No,” Stacie said firmly, crossing her arms. “Because if we don’t talk now we aren’t going to talk ever, and we need to talk.”

Aubrey’s eyes skittered away from Stacie’s, but when Stacie thought she was going to make a break for her next class, she took the brunette’s hand and started to lead her down the hall and towards the bathroom. It was mercifully empty, but she still pushed into the accessible stall and locked it behind them, pressing her back against the door and exhaling heavily while Stacie stood tall across from her. “You wanted to talk, and I’m not about to get caught out in the open skipping class, so we’re talking here.”

“Fine,” Stacie huffed, crossing her arms again and shifting her weight to one foot. “You’ve been avoiding me.”

“I see you every day,” Aubrey said incredulously. “We have three classes together and we still sit together in calculus.”

“You haven’t been answering my texts, you didn’t show up Tuesday morning to work on calculus, even though this month and the next month are arguably _the_ most important months for AP classes, you won’t talk to me at all during class,” she listed. In the middle of her next sentence, her voice cracked. “You won’t even fucking look at me, Aubrey.”

Aubrey looked down at her hands, playing with her fingers as she shrugged. “I’ve been busy.”

“Doing what? Because even when you were finishing college apps in November you still answered my texts,” Stacie threw back.

“I’m applying for scholarships, and I’m doing track every day, and my dad’s really on my ass about studying for AP testing, and-”

“You told me in early February that you’d study with me for AP exams,” Stacie reminded sharply.

“Yeah, well, things change, Stacie,” Aubrey snapped, immediately regretting the words when she saw the hurt flash across Stacie’s face.

Stacie was silent for a long time, and they both startled a little when the last bell rang for classes to start. She pursed her lips and looked close to tears when she whispered, “Did I do something wrong?”

Aubrey didn’t respond, and Stacie’s face just crumpled further, and an ache started to spread in Aubrey’s chest when she saw a tear start to drip down her cheek. The bruised one.

“Tell me what I did wrong so I can fix it,” Stacie pleaded. “Please, Aubrey.”

She was crying now too, and she wiped at her cheek, wincing when she brushed over it. “This isn’t something you can just fix, Stacie.”

But when she looked, Stacie’s expression had changed, and she took a few hesitant steps forward, reaching up to touch Aubrey’s face. “Aubrey, your cheek.”

Panic flooded her system and she smacked Stacie’s hand away, hard, but they both made sounds of pain when her hand connected.

“Aubrey, we’re-”

“Don’t say it,” Aubrey whispered harshly. “Because then it’s real.”

“How long have you known?” Stacie asked accusingly.

Aubrey didn’t respond.

“Aubrey, how long have you known that we’re-”

“Since I saw the pictures,” she interrupted, closing her eyes and taking a shaky breath. By closing her eyes, though, she didn’t see the angst on Stacie’s face. “Oh my god.”

Stacie wiped at her eyes, swallowing thickly and clearing her throat. “So I’m the problem? That’s why I can’t fix this?”

“I didn’t say that,” Aubrey hissed.

“It’s what you’re trying to get at though, isn’t it?” Stacie returned. “Or it was just a coincidence that you started to avoid me once you found out that we were fucking soulmates.”

“Stop putting words in my mouth!” Aubrey wanted to stomp her foot to illustrate her point, but she refrained and lowered her voice. “It’s not like that!”

“Then what is it like, Aubrey? Because from where I’m standing-”

“Stacie...”

“-it looks like I’m the fucki-”

_“I was scared!”_

Stacie froze, blinking at Aubrey as fresh tears started to spill down her cheeks. “What?” she whispered.

“I told you about my parents,” Aubrey said darkly, lowly. “I told you that they’re soulmates, but their marriage is falling apart. The only thing keeping them together is me.” She let out a bitter chuckle, shaking her head and swiping at her eyes. “I don’t want to set myself up to get my fucking heart broken. I won’t do it, I can’t.”

More hurt flashed through Stacie at the implication of the words. Aubrey thought that Stacie would break her heart.

She knows your reputation.

“I would never do that to you,” Stacie said strongly.

“How can I know that?” Aubrey whispered, her voice breaking in the middle. “How can I know that you won’t just-” Her chest heaved and her breathing stuttered. She put her palm hard against her chest, and Stacie could feel her own heart pounding in her chest, could feel the way her lungs were constricting, her breathing growing shallower.

“Won’t just what?”

“Won’t just leave me like everyone else!” Aubrey exploded, turning away and facing the door, pressing her forehead against it as her shoulders jumped. Her chest was rising and falling too fast, too fast, too fucking fast.

Stacie put her hand on Aubrey’s shoulder, but she jerked away when Aubrey whirled around, her eyes red-rimmed and filled with tears. “Don’t touch me.”

“Aubrey-”

“Please just-” she gasped in a breath, groping around behind her for the lock on the stall, fumbling with it until it snapped open- “leave me alone.”

And Aubrey ran.

And Stacie was left alone, in the accessible stall, with a hollowness settling in her chest. Aubrey didn’t want her. Aubrey was her _soulmate_ and she didn’t _want her._

Stacie pulled back her sleeve and dug her nails into her left arm, knowing that Aubrey would feel the pain like she was.

And she sobbed.

 

****

**April**

Stacie had done as Aubrey had requested.

She left her alone.

She didn’t text her about homework anymore, she didn’t get to school early on Tuesday mornings for their usual study sessions (and if she did, she hung out in Beca’s car and tried not to be too obviously sullen when she saw her and Emily being affectionate), and she didn’t talk to her in any of their shared classes, _especially_ calculus.

It didn’t mean that she liked it at all.

Their confrontation in the bathroom had been in the beginning of March, and it was now the middle of April, and Stacie was quickly becoming tired of doing the absolute most in order to avoid Aubrey. She wanted to respect her wishes, tried to push down the agony that came with knowing that Aubrey was knowingly pushing Stacie away-- _pushing her soulmate away._ She tried so hard.

Everything came to a breaking point in their last shared class, and the last class of the day: AP Government and Politics.

(Stacie, quite frankly, hated it.

Unsurprisingly, Aubrey loved it.)

Stacie had been texting her group chat with the others (others being Jesse, Beca, Emily, CR, and Ashley) about getting food at what they referred to as “their diner.” One by one, her friends flaked; Jesse had to retake a test, Beca and Emily were going out on their own lunch date at a pho place nearby, CR had to make up a test, and Ashley had to go to her internship.

Frustrated and hungry (she hadn’t eaten all day, having forgotten to eat breakfast and to pack a lunch amid her morning moping), Stacie groaned and dropped her phone onto her desk loudly. She pushed her glasses up onto her head and rubbed her eyes, trying not to feel too disappointed that all of her friends were busy with their own lives while she slogged along in a haze.

“Stacie?”

Her eyes snapped open and she stared with wide eyes up at Aubrey, who was watching her, her bottom lip caught between her teeth and anxiety clear in her eyes. “Uh, hey?”

“Hi,” she breathed, looking down at her feet and shuffling awkwardly in place, messing with the cuff of her letterman jacket.

There was a pregnant pause, broken when they both tried to speak at the same time.

“I just wanted to-”

“Do you want to-”

Aubrey cleared her throat and laughed nervously, shaking her head. “You first.”

“No, you,” Stacie insisted, wanting to hear what Aubrey had to say before she asked her what she wanted to ask.

She took a deep breath and let it go before finally meeting her eyes, eyes full of regret and misery. “I wanted to tell you that I’m sorry. About what I did, and what I said.”

Stacie pursed her lips and swallowed, scratching absently at her neck. “Okay.”

“You don’t have to forgive me, you have every right to be angry,” Aubrey rushed out, her words starting to run together in her haste to say it.

Something in Stacie’s brain lit up with an idea.

“I just wanted you to know, and I don’t expect anything to really come of this after the stupid shit I said, and-”

“Do you want to go get lunch with me?” Stacie asked, effectively cutting off Aubrey’s rambling.

Aubrey blinked at her owlishly, obviously not having prepared for that response from Stacie after the things she’d said. “What?”

“Lunch? With me? Y’know, getting food. Sometimes conversation?” Stacie explained. Aubrey’s reaction was causing knots to form in Stacie’s stomach, and she was beginning to think that maybe this wasn’t the best way to resolve this situation.

“I have practice at six,” Aubrey informed, smiling ruefully.

“I’ll have you back before you turn into a pumpkin,” Stacie teased, a small smile growing on her lips as she felt their old dynamic coming back. “I promise.”

Aubrey still looked unsure. “I don’t know, Stace. After what I did, I didn’t think-”

“We need to have a longer conversation about this, that’s for sure,” Stacie said, waving her hand to silence Aubrey’s newfound proclivity for rambling. “But I don’t think it should happen at school, so that’s where lunch comes into play.”

“Are you sure, Stacie. I don’t-”

“Aubrey,” Stacie said softly, reaching out in a very bold action to take her hand. After weeks of no contact, Stacie felt at peace holding Aubrey’s hand. “Will you go out to lunch with me?”

Aubrey smiled, her eyes crinkling at the corners, and Stacie felt blinded seeing it after so long without it being directed at her. “Okay.”

“You’re paying.”

“Oka- what?!”

“Think of this as an extended apology.”

“Stacie!”

“You already agreed to come to lunch with me. No take backs!”

“You’re a child.”

“My body begs to differ.”

“You’re horrible. C’mon, lets go. You’re driving.”

“Bossy.”

“Get used to it.”

Stacie grinned widely as the bell rang, drowning out her whispered: _“I’m sure I will.”_

 

****

**May**

The last week of April had been especially difficult for Aubrey to make it through, but she had.

Miraculously.

But there she lay now, on the 2nd of May, her throat tight and lungs burning; she was suffocating under the weight of the shadows in her room.

Reasonably, she knew that she was more than prepared for her AP tests. She’d aced all of her finals, gotten 4s and 5s on the mocks she’d taken, and had been studying almost every day since the beginning of March when she suddenly had… a lot more time on her hands.

Two months of obsessively studying, and she still didn’t feel like it was good enough.

_You should’ve been studying since August, Aubrey,_ her father had scolded over the phone the last time they’d had a phone call. He’d been disappointed by her. Again.

(But what else was new.)

“Christ.” She dug the heels of her palms into her eyes, trying to stem the flow of her sudden tears. It wasn’t like this was a new feeling. Every May she felt the same way, and every July she saw that she had had nothing to worry about. As Chloe had told her almost every year: Aubrey Posen was her name, and over-preparation was her game.

Panic seized in her chest, constricting her lungs and causing her breaths to start coming in short, sharp gasps. Tears leaked past her hands, finally pushing her to sit up in bed and slap around her blankets for her phone. Her hands were shaking violently, and her vision was blurry, but she managed to get into her recent call history and call someone.

_“Aubrey? It’s 3AM.”_

At that voice, whispered and groggy, a strangled sob finally broke out of her.

_“Aubrey, what’s wrong?”_ Stacie asked, sounding a lot more alert than she had when she’d first answered.

“I can’t-” she gasped, one hand flying to her chest to press on the spreading ache, even though she knew it wouldn’t help- “bre-athe.”

_“Fucking shit.”_ There was shuffling over the line, but Aubrey could barely hear it over the ringing in her ears. _“I need to you to focus on my voice. You can hear me, so listen. Breathe with me.”_

Stacie started to take exaggeratedly loud, deep breaths. It was extremely likely that Stacie could feel the burning in her chest through their trauma link, and Aubrey couldn’t help but feel ashamed that she was causing Stacie pain because of her issues.

_“Slow down your breaths, Aubrey,”_ Stacie coached. _“Me breathing deep can only do so much through the link, I need you to breathe.”_

“Can you come over?” Aubrey rasped, her breathing still stilted, but evened slightly from the short gasps of air that were hardly enough to solve the lightheadedness she was beginning to feel. “Please, Stacie.”

There was a pause over the line, so long that Aubrey had a split second thought that Stacie had hung up, but then came the tired response of: _“I’ll be over in ten. Meet me outside, and I’ll take you for a drive.”_

“Thank you,” she croaked.

_“Anything.”_

The call disconnected and Aubrey dropped the phone onto the blankets, hiding her face in her hands to get her breathing deeper and deeper until she was back to almost normal, the only remnants of her panic attack being the way her body violently trembled every few seconds and the slightest hitch in her breaths.

She grabbed her phone and rolled until she could get her feet to the floor, stepping quietly around her room and grabbing her letterman from where it was draped over her desk chair and a pair of sweatpants to go over her sleep shorts. There was really no reason to be quiet-- her father was out of the country and her mother was probably passed out across the house from alcohol consumption-- but something in the back of her head told her to be cautious about sneaking out of the house at 3AM.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket just as she was grabbing her lanyard, a text from Stacie telling her that she was idling outside.

The front door shut quietly behind her and she shuffled down the path and the driveway until she was pulling open the passenger door to Stacie’s car and sliding in.

“Seatbelt,” Stacie whispered.

Aubrey did as was asked of her, clipping it at her side, and then watched as Stacie pulled away from the curb and started driving down the street. “Where are we going?”

“I know there’s a park a few minutes away. It’ll be a quiet place to be this time of night,” she said, using her blinker even though the streets were deserted. “Want to tell me what that was?”

“It’s AP testing season,” Aubrey said, as though that was answer enough.

Stacie wasn’t satisfied.

“I’ve been studying with you every day since mid-April. You’re more than prepared for all of your tests.” Stacie pulled into a parking spot and threw the car into park, turning off the headlights and turning on the overhead light so she could see Aubrey. “Scoot your seat back a bit.”

“What?”

“Scoot your seat back. There’s a thing on the side.”

However odd a task it was, Aubrey complied.

“Okay, now move.”

“What?”

“Would you stop questioning me and just move,” Stacie teased, breaking off into a chuckle. She awkwardly maneuvered herself over the center console and they both struggled to find a comfortable position until Stacie leaned the seat back a bit more so she was laying on it and Aubrey was laying on her, head pillowed against Stacie’s chest. “Isn’t this better?”

Aubrey hummed. “Your boobs are very comfortable.”

“They do their best,” Stacie replied easily, her laughter causing Aubrey’s head to move. Her hands came up to run through Aubrey’s tangled hair, combing through the knots and scratching at her scalp. “Now tell me why you had a panic attack at 3AM about tests you’re more than prepared for.”

She shrugged, shifting her body so she could rest more comfortably on Stacie’s body. “Just that these tests help determine my future.”

“You already know that you got into LA, Berkeley, Columbia, Yale, Harvard, should I go on?” Stacie reminded gently, tugging lightly at the ends of Aubrey’s hair. “Why are you freaking out about this, Aubrey? You can relax.”

Aubrey was silent for a long time, wanting to refute that no, she couldn’t relax. _If she relaxed, then she wouldn’t be the best, and if she wasn’t the best, then she was nothing._

“Aubrey-”

“I don’t think I’m ready to grow up,” she admitted in a small voice, closing her eyes tight so that she didn’t start crying again.

Stacie inhaled sharply, letting her head fall back against the seat as Aubrey’s words hit her like a ton of bricks. “Aubrey…”

She sniffled, burying her face in Stacie’s chest and beginning to cry.

“I’ll tell you a secret,” Stacie whispered, still running her fingers through Aubrey’s hair as she wept. “I’m not ready to grow up either.”

Aubrey took in a shaky breath and turned her head so her chin was on Stacie’s chest, so they could both look at one another. Stacie could see the splotchy red patches all over Aubrey’s face from her tears, as well as her bloodshot eyes. “Really?”

“Yeah,” she murmured. “I just wish we could stay here, in my car, in this moment. Not have to worry about the future.”

Their statements hung heavily in the air, the silence not broken for what felt like hours before Stacie started to talk- no- _sing:_

“Can’t we be seventeen?” Stacie whispered, staring at the car ceiling. “That’s all I want to do. If you could let me in, I could be good with you.”

“I turned eighteen last month, Stace,” Aubrey teased lowly, glad that she could get an indignant huff out of Stacie.

“Shut up, I’m singing,” she retorted. “You know your part?”

“Why am I the sociopathic murderer?”

“It just worked out that way, now come on, we’re singing.”

They both sang quietly, Aubrey eventually turning her head back so she was laying with her ear against Stacie’s chest, listening to her steady heartbeat.

“Maybe prom night-?” Stacie suggested.

“Maybe dancing-?”

“Don’t stop looking in my eyes-”

“-your eyes.”

The climax of the song came and went, and with it so did their energy. Aubrey could feel sleep creeping in as Stacie sang out, “Yeah, we’re damaged.”

“Badly damaged,” was the slurred response.

“But your love’s too good to lose.”

“Hold me tighter.”

“Even closer.”

Their arms wrapped around one another, in that car, a perfect moment.

“Can’t we be seventeen?” Aubrey mumbled, eyelids fluttering.

“If I am what you choose…” Stacie smiled softly as Aubrey tilted her head so their eyes met.

“You’re the one I choose,” Aubrey whispered into the space between them.

They both took a breath before pushing out the final line.

“You’re the one I choose…”

Stacie tapped out the piano notes on Aubrey’s side, and then they both drifted off to sleep.

 

****

**June**

“Wow.”

Aubrey smiled as she descended the stairs, the sound of her heels echoing in the entryway. She looked like a goddess with her hair in an elaborate half-up-half-down style and in her long, blue dress that sparkled under the chandelier. The sharp v-neckline of it was entrancing, so much so that it seemed to be all Stacie could focus on.

“You look… wow,” she managed to stutter out, unable to articulate anything past that.

“Thank you,” Aubrey replied smugly, lightly caressing her face, running her thumb across her cheekbone. “You look pretty wow yourself.”

Stacie flushed with warmth, leaning into the warmth of Aubrey’s hand as a shy smile graced her lips. “I did my best with what I had.”

“You did a very good job, Stacie.” Aubrey’s hand slid down her face, fingertips feathering over her neck, her collarbone, down her arm to lace their fingers together. “Where are the others?”

“To my knowledge, they’re already at the park taking pictures,” Stacie said, reluctantly letting go of Aubrey’s hand to dig around in her purse for her phone. She snorted and angled her phone so that Aubrey could see the screen too. “Yeah, they’re at the park.”

Aubrey giggled as she watched the video of Emily running around the park with Beca held in her arms-- bridal style, because of course she was-- and Jesse standing in the background, Luke beside him, looking immeasurably stressed about his friends antics.

“We should probably go before Emily ruins her tux or Beca changes her mind about wearing that dress,” Stacie said, locking her phone and dropping it back into her purse.

“Or before Jesse has a panic attack trying to wrangle them on his own,” Aubrey agreed, moving the chain of her purse higher on her shoulder. She shooed Stacie out of the house, calling into the emptiness that she was leaving before shutting the door behind them.

Pictures ended up being less of a disaster than they all originally thought it would be, at least once Aubrey and Stacie showed up to get the others in line.

(Okay, it was mostly Aubrey yelling at them and Stacie watching her girlfriend adoringly, but semantics.)

The same could not be said about the group dinner, and Aubrey was almost convinced they were going to get kicked out before their appetizers even came.

“I think CR and Jessley had the right idea,” Aubrey murmured to Stacie as they both warily observed the interactions of Chloe “Overshare” Beale and Emily “#NoFilter” Junk.

“Hm?” Stacie hummed, turning to look at Aubrey, an eyebrow quirked in silent question.

“Experiencing this has made me realize that maybe we would’ve benefited more from a private dinner,” she said, wincing as Chloe let out a loud burst of laughter, getting the attention of some of the other people in the restaurant.

Stacie glanced back at their friends and then back at Aubrey, a new sparkle in her eyes. “Think we could beat traffic and get sushi downtown?”

“You’re a genius,” Aubrey breathed, grabbing her purse and leaving some cash on the table next to Chloe. She tapped the redheads shoulder and briefly explained where she was going, dancing around the exact reason of _why_ her and Stacie were ditching them, and eventually she and Stacie were hurrying out to Aubrey’s car while Stacie called her favorite sushi place downtown to ask about the wait time.

 

****

**-**

“Well, they didn’t get kicked out,” Aubrey said once they got back in Stacie’s car to finally drive to prom itself. She was looking down at her phone, brow creased as she scrolled through her friends stories. She closed her eyes and laughed quietly to herself, shaking her head. “They’re blasting High School Musical, and Beca looks thrilled.”

“Who do you think started it?” Stacie asked absently as she got onto the road, her right hand resting loosely at the top of the steering wheel as she drove.

“I don’t know how much your friends love HSM, but Chloe’s still obsessed with it, so I’d guess her.” She let her phone drop into her lap and folded her hands over it, taking a moment to appreciate how pretty Stacie looked.

It was amazing that she was real, at least to Aubrey. How could she reconcile that this girl-- this new young adult-- was the one who had woken up at 3AM to answer her phone call; the one who had talked her through a panic attack, especially when she hadn’t needed to; the one who had driven over to pick her up and easily soothed her fears with singing and light teasing.

_She’s the one, that’s how. She’s your one._

Aubrey sniffled and reached into Stacie’s glove compartment for the tissues she knew to be there after what had happened in May, dabbing lightly under her eyes so she didn’t ruin her makeup with her tears.

“Aubrey, are you okay?” Stacie asked, concern edging into her tone as she glanced worriedly at her, still trying to focus on the road.

“I’m great,” she said thickly, folding the tissue and checking herself in the visor mirror. “I’m amazing.”

“Why’re you crying?” Aubrey could see that she didn’t look entirely convinced, so she moved her hand so it rested palm up on the center console. Stacie, without even stopping to think about it, switched the hand she was driving with so she could hold Aubrey’s hand. “Aubrey?”

“I’m just so thankful that you’re… you,” she whispered lamely, shrugging.

Stacie chuckled and squeezed her hand. “I’m thankful that you’re you, Aubrey.”

Aubrey so badly wanted to lean across the console and kiss her, but Stacie was still driving, and she wasn’t about to cause a car accident, so she refrained. Instead, she cleared her throat and glanced away, blushing. “How far out, now?”

“Five minutes, give or take red lights,” Stacie estimated.

“I can’t wait.”

 

****

**-**

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is the last song of the night, and it’s gonna be a slow one. Grab yourself a partner and make it meaningful. Thank you for being awesome tonight, Barden High.”

The lights seemed to dim in the building, the atmosphere shifting from what had previously been clubby to being more soft and romantic.

“May I have this dance?” Stacie proposed, holding out a hand to Aubrey, her grin blinding in the dimness.

In lieu of answering, Aubrey took Stacie’s hands and guided them to her hips, stepping into her embrace and looping her own arms around the taller girls neck. “This was nice.”

Stacie chuckled and pressed their foreheads together, looking down into Aubrey’s eyes. “A good way to end a pretty great year.”

“February through April wasn’t the best for you,” Aubrey reminded, nose wrinkling slightly as she thought about her actions during that time. “Sorry about that.”

“It doesn’t matter that those months sucked massively, because April and May more than made up for it,” Stacie said softly, her thumb rubbing maddening circles against Aubrey’s hip. “You finally got your head out of your ass, we went on a date, we had a midnight-”

“-almost 4AM-”

“- _midnight_ heart-to-heart,” Stacie pointedly said, her smile widening impossibly. “4AM is still the middle of the night, Aubrey.”

Aubrey rolled her eyes at that, but her chest warmed when Stacie said what she did next.

“And now you’re here in my arms, and we’re together.” Stacie swallowed and blinked a few times to clear her eyes of tears. “And we’re forever, because the universe said so.”

“You’re my one,” Aubrey murmured between them.

“You’re my one,” Stacie repeated.

They could both hear the song coming to a close, and if there was ever a time for what they both wanted to do, it was then.

“Can I-” Stacie began.

“-kiss me,” Aubrey breathed, not giving Stacie any time to even act on her quiet command before she was leaning up and slanting their lips together, eyes fluttering closed as the song faded out and the crowd gave a final cheer for the DJ, but it was almost like a cheer for them. For their relationship.

“I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you,” Stacie said once they pulled away.

Aubrey smiled up at her, brushing hair out of her face to kiss her again, mumbling against her lips what had become Their Phrase™:

“I’m counting the seconds.”

**Author's Note:**

> Any standout lines anyone? Tell me how you felt about this in the comments or yell at me on tumblr @sisdukewrites!


End file.
